Filing and indexing equipment



E. E. FOWLER.

FILING AND INDEXING EQUIPMENT.

v APPLICATION FILED NOV.16. I918. fir

3 SHEETS-SHEET l I I Iiiije 71270 2 Edwa P02 15'. FowZei'e E. E. FOWLER.

FILING AND INDEXING EQUIPMENT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV-16,1918.

Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Inventor.-

EdwardEiFoze/Zer. by M, Bra-Xi, WWW/um E. E. FOWLER.

FIILING AND INDEXING EQUIPMENT. APPLICATION FILED NOV- IB, I918.

1,352,507, Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3- Edwamz 1511 12201 8:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD E. FOWLER, 0F WINTHROP, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO COSTMETER COMPANY, OF IBOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FILING AND INDEXING EQUIPMENT.

T0 allwhom it may concern Be it known that I, EnwAnD E. 'FowLnR, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Winthrop, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Filing and Indexing Equipments, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings,jis a specification, like characters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates to filing and indexing equipments of the class in which sheets are arranged with their margins in overlapping relationship, and the invention is more particularly concerned with improvements relating to sheets and sheet-holders and their means of attachment to each other and to the mounting with which they are assembled, as well as to provision for offsetting one or more sheets with relation to the remainder.

My invention will be best understood by reference to the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings of one specific embodiment thereof, while its scope will be more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of thefiling and indexing equipment embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is an elevation of oneof the foldable sheets and its sheet-holder, the sheet being unfolded and its inner surface exposed to view;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig; 1 illustrating one of the sheets uplifted preparatory to the-operation of offsetting the sheet;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 3, showing the tory to shifting the sheet laterally to offset the same; and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view similar to Fig. 4:, showing the sheet offset and the sheetholder still flexed and in readiness to be unlocked with the sheet in the new position of the latter. a

Referring to the drawings and to the embodiment of my invention which is illustrated therein, I have shown for purposes of exemplification a filing and indexing equipment comprising a plurality of overlapping sheets. 10 which may be and are herein folded, each sheet belng held by a Specification of Letters Patent.

sheet-holder flexed prepara- I Patented Sept. 14, 1920.

Application filed November 16, 1918. Serial No. 262,762.

- novel sheet-holder 11 which is herein re- CGIVBCl 1n the fold of its respective sheet.

The sheet-holder comprises a piece of wire whose terminal portions are helically coiled to form trunnions 13 to be engaged by inwardly facing flanges 14.- of an appropriate mounting 15, the latter being preferably formed of thin sheet metal bent into the des1red form. The trunnions .12 are preferably generally cylindrical and permit the sheets to be turned about their respective axes while still maintaining their overlapping margins in properly spaced relationship., The trunnions are confined in the channels and held against undue movement lengthwise thereof by suitable upper and lower stops l6 and 17. The intermediate portion of the sheet-holder being of smaller diameter than the trunnions enables an ample clearance to be provided between the sheet and the mounting, as will be evident fro an inspection of Fig. 3. The sheet may be secured to the sheet-holder in any ap; propriate manner, as by providing the sheet with two perforations 18, best shown in Fig. 2, of suificient diameter to permit the trunnions to be passed therethrough. The perforations are adjacent the fold of the sheet, and preferably each is bisected by the line of the fold, as will be evident from an inspection of Fig. 2. It should be observed that the sheet-holder extends through one perforation into thefold of the sheet, and then through the other. Preferably the sheet-holder is made of a length of resilient material, such as tempered wire. By flex? ing the latter, its length may be reduced to enable the trunnions to be withdrawn from the channels and to permit the sheet to be detached from the sheet-holder by withdrawing the trunnions from the perforations in the sheet.

The sheet-holder may be and is herein provided with a helically-coiled, intermediate portion 19 which has two important advantages; first, it lends increased flexibility to the sheet-holder, and, second, it may be caused to interlock with the sheet in one or more positions of the latter lengthwise of the sheet-holder. This is desirable because it enables one or more of the sheets to be offset from the remainder by shifting the same laterally in one'direction or the other, as illustrated in Fig. 1. Tov this end, I have provided each sheet with a plurality of per-' 117 Fig. 3, and then exerting an outward pull on the same, which will result in bowing the sheet-holder, as illustrated in Fig. 4. It is evident that the presence of the helical coil 19 contributes very substantially to the flexibility of the sheet-holder, thus enabling the latter to be bowed easily. Having thus withdrawn the projection 19 from the intermediate perforation 20, the sheet is free to be shifted laterally in either direction to bring another of the perforations 20 into register with the projection 19, as illustrated in Fig. 5, whereupon the sheet may be released and the sheet-holder allowed to resume its normal position, the projection entering the perforation and locking the sheet in its new position.

The described offsetting of the sheets is of great advantage where it is desired temporarily to distinguish them from the others. This is well illustrated in Fig. 1, in which I have shown several sheets offset from the others by shifting them to the right or left, as the case may be, longitudinally of their respective sheet-holders. -It is obvious that any degree of offset and any number of offset positions may be secured by providing the sheet with an appropriate number 'of suitably spaced perforations.

This means for offsetting the cards or sheets and locking them in each of their offset positions is one of great utility. as it may be made use of for a wide variety of purposes in various lines of business when running through an index or file, since each sheet which it is desired to reserve for future attention may be distinguished from the others, either temporarily or permanently by laterally offsetting the same in one direction or the other. The advantage of this should be readily apparent, especially in the case of accounting operations, where posting. checking and recapitulating are done. This is of especial advantage in connection with an index or file of the overlapping type, because all of the offset sheets are visible at one time and without the necessity of handling them.

Preferably the helically-coiled, terminal portions 12 and intermediate portion 19 of the sheet-holder 11 are co-aXial with the body portion of the wire of which they are formed. One of the advantages of the helical form of these parts is the ease and low cost with which the sheet-holders can be manufactured, since it is possible to run a supply of wire through an'autom'atic machine which will make the desired coils and cut off and eject the completed sheet-holders. The advantage of this will be readily appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Having thus described one embodiment of my invention, what I claim and desire by Letters Patent tosecure is:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet, and a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled terminal portions between which said sheet is received.

2. In a device .of the class described, the combination of a sheet, and a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled terminal portions between which said sheet is received, said terminal portions being substantially coaxial with the intermediate portion of said wire.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet, a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled terminal trunnions between which said sheet is received, and bearings in which said trunnions are mounted.

4:. In a device of the class described, a plurality of sheets, a plurality of sheet-holders each comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled terminal trunnions between which said sheet is received, and a mounting provided with channels in which said truninons are received.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet, a sheet-holder comprising a length of resilient wire provided with helically-coiled terminal portions between which said sheet is received, and bearings in which said terminal portions are supported.

6. In a device of the class described, the combination of a perforated sheet, a sheetholder extending through the perforation or perforations in saidsheet and comprising a length of resilient wire provided with helically-coiled terminal portions between which said sheet is received and bearings in which said terminal portions are supported.

7. In a device of the class described, the

which said sheet is received, and a helicallycoiled porti'on intermediate said terminal portions.

9. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet provided with a plurality of perforations, and a sheet-holder extending through one or more of said perforations and provided with helically-coiled terminal portions between which said sheet is received, and a helically-coiled portion intermediate said terminal portions and received in another of said perforations.

10. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with a helicallycoiled portion, and a sheet supported thereby and provided with a perforation in which said helically-coiled portion is received.

11. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with a helically coiled portion and a sheet supported thereby and provided with a plurality of perforations in any one of which said helically-coiled portion is receivable.

12. In a device of the class described, a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with a helically-coiled portion, and a folded sheet provided with one or more perforations in which said helically-coiled portion is receivable, said sheet-holder being received in the fold of said sheet.

13. In a device of the class described, the combination of a sheet-holder comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled terminal portions and a helically-coiled, intermediate portion, a folded sheet provided with one or more perforations in which said intermediate, helically-coiled portion is receivable, and bearings in which-said helically-coiled, terminal portions are received.

14:. A filing and indexing equipment comprising, in combination, a plurality of overlapping sheets each provided with a plurality of perforations, a plurality of sheet-holders, each comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled, terminal portions between which the sheet of such sheet-holder is received, and provided with a helicallycoiled, intermediate portion receivable in any one of said perferations and a mounting provided with bearings for said terminal portions.

15. A filing. and indexing equipment comprising, in combination,a plurality of folded, overlapping sheets, each provided with a plurality of perforations adjacent its fold, a plurality of sheet-holders, each received in the fold of its respective sheet and each comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled, terminal portions between which such sheet is received, and a helically-coiled, intermediate portion receivable in any one of said perforations, and a mounting provided with bearings for said terminal portions.

16. A filing and indexing equipment comprising, in combination, a plurality of folded, overlapping sheets each provided with a plurality of perforations adjacent its fold, a plurality of sheet-holders, each received in the fold of its respective sheet and extending through two of said perforations, each of said sheet-holders comprising a length of wire provided with helically-coiled, terminal portions between which such sheet is received, and a helically-coiled intermediate portion receivable. in any one of a plurality of said perforations, and a mounting provided with bearings for said terminal portions, said bearings being spaced apart a distance substantially greater than the width of said sheets, thereby to permit one or more of the latter to be offset from the remainder by shifting the same lengthwise of their respective sheet-holders.

17. In a device of the class described, the combination of a plurality of overlapping sheets, a plurality of sheet-holders, and a mounting for said sheet-holders, said sheets.

and sheet-holders having cooperating means permitting one or more of said sheets to be offset from the remainder and providing for the locking of said sheets in their normal and offset positions, said means comprising a plurality of apertures in each sheet, and a helical coil on each sheet-holder, receivable in any one of the apertures of such sheet.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification.

EDWARD E. FOWLER. 

